The Fifteenth Year

April: Part 9

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Dear Friend,

I didn't see Lydia anywhere today. In fact, I don't think anybody saw her. She wasn't in school. Is it weird that I'm worried? Did something I said yesterday make her run off? Or did she have some anxiety attack with all these problems going on with her? It doesn't even bother me anymore that I'm starting to care about the chick. It bothers me that getting involved could've been a bad move and now if this is my fault I have no clue what to do. Lydia wouldn't do this for me. She'd probably stand in a corner laughing while something was eating me alive. But still...Chloe didn't have a friend in the world when I came along. Now Lydia doesn't have any either. It'd be wrong to do nothing. At least I think it would. Lydia wants normalcy in her life; her reputation back. Well, I can't do much about her family, but I think I have a plan to get her friends back and for people to believe she isn't with Justin.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Dear Friend,

Thank God that I have some good news. It turns out that Lydia's absence yesterday had nothing to do with me. She was helping her dad get the last of his things out. I found Lydia after lunch hour today and explained to her that if she can't get her friends to believe she didn't get back with Justin, then to pretend that she had and then break up with him again.

"Listen, Freshman, I don't want to break up with him again. I don't want my friends thinking we even got back together. Forget it. I refuse."

"Justin won't back you up about what happened?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please. He's enjoying all the attention. He's letting the guys believe we went to second base on school grounds. He's eating it up."

"Then it's the only way."

She sighed. Then looking desperate, she whispered, "I'll think about it."

When she heard the bell and walked away, Renee approached me. "Was that Hoff?"

I threw away my empty pop can in a hall trash. "Yeah."

"What's going on with you? You're talking to her now?"

"It's nothing, Renee. She's going through something."

"And you elected the short straw to handle it?"

I gave her a hard look. "Don't start. It's not like we're hanging out. I gave her some advice."

"On how not to be a leech?"

I sighed. "You won't understand. Clearly, you don't want to."

"I'm your friend, Cassie. And I'm concerned. The girl's a first class bitch, and you're talking to her."

"Look, I can't talk about it. But trust me."

"You're kidding me. We've been friends for how long? And you're sticking allegiance with some chick that's been nothing but mean to you and used to suck face with your boyfriend?"

My hands made fists and I gritted my teeth. "Stop it, Renee. She's...not back with Justin. People misread the situation."

"Then why suck face with him?"

I sighed. Lydia said she didn't care if people knew. I guess getting Renee off my back wouldn't hurt. "Her parents broke up. Her dad left over break."

Renee pieced it all together in her mind. "Oh. Still not understanding why she's speaking to you though. It's not like she doesn't have friends."

"Don't be so territorial. Her friends aren't talking to her right now. I bumped into her, we talked, I gave her a solution for that situation, and that's it."

She shrugged. "You might want to tell that to Jason."

I frowned. "What, did he say something to you?"

She bit her lip. "Not really. Her name came up, but he said he was confused. Your answer didn't appear to satisfy him. Just explain it to him."

So after school on the drive home with Jason, I asked him, "Did you really want me to explain what that was? I thought guys didn't care about details."

"You were talking to Lydia, Cassie. We decided Lydia wasn't going to be an issue anymore."

"She isn't. So why are we making it one? Is it weird for you that I talked to her?"

"Well, yeah! She's my ex."

"Trust me, I'm well aware."

He sighed and squeezed my hand. "I thought that didn't bother you anymore."

"It doesn't. This isn't about that. Come on, Jason, you even said yourself that you want her to be happy. Don't you care if she's going through something difficult?"

"Well, sure, to a degree. There's just boundaries, I think. And I'm not getting why you care."

"All I'm saying is that we give the girl a break." I picked at a thread on my shorts. "Jason, have you ever met her parents?"

He shrugged. "Briefly. She never brought me around them."

"And why do you think that is?"

He frowned at me, thinking this was a really random question. "I don't know. It's Lydia. Maybe she was embarrassed by them."

"It's probably because they were on the verge of splitting up."

He looked at me quizzically. "How do you figure? Is that what she said?"

"Her dad moved out over spring break."

Het let out a breath as he tugged some hair at the back of his neck. "I sort of always wondered, I guess. She never liked to talk about life at home. She made it hard to get to know her. All she wanted to talk about was school and pretty superficial stuff unless it was the future."

"Look, I'm not suggesting we...be there for her. But maybe...understand that her friends are giving her a hard time about this Justin thing and for whatever reason - she confided in me. I don't feel right backing off now. Do you trust me? She never even mentioned you. Except she said that Al Dower deserved your fist."

He smirked as he focused on the road and made a left turn. "Maybe she's not so bad after all."

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Dear Friend,

Jason's first playoff game is tomorrow. I'm not letting on to him that I'm nervous for the Lions. But I am. Jason is totally focused, but the team is shook up from last week. And everybody from this point on is really, really good because they made the playoffs too. There's only a few weeks left of football. Our school can almost taste this. The Lakota Lions haven't won a State Championship since 1987. Yeah. Long time.